A Leeds aquarium shop owner is facing a mass "exodus" as the cost of living crisis rages on, threatening his trade.
Andy Jackson, 42, has been getting "massively sad" as more and more of his customers have been ditching their fish tanks as they can no longer keep up with the electricity bills. He says the industry is "struggling" with an increasing amount of shops going "bust".
The 42-year-old owns Radical Aquatics in Ashbrook Park, Hunslet with his wife Katie, also 42. They have thousands of species of fish, sea creatures and coral and huge array of tanks.
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Andy said: “So what we’ve got is a bit of an exodus of the hobby at the moment where people are selling up their tanks.
"The hobby is struggling at the moment, certainly because of electricity. It's rubbish, it's not good for anybody. Everybody is struggling at the minute, electricity wise, the cost of living and you've got a recession coming.
"We've built a business up in the last two years to be absolutely amazing, we're still okay because we've got a loyal customer base but there are other businesses out there going bust.
"It makes me feel massively sad. I've had a customer who's just been made redundant and can't afford to keep his tank going. It's sad because people can't do their hobby anymore and that's sad for all shops as people like to travel around the shops."
He says that part of the beauty of the hobby is visiting all the different shops which offer something different.
The Jackson couple started the business just before the pandemic after their hobby began to take over their lives with over 10 tanks in their house. They had them all in their living room for family and friends to marvel at.
Andy said: “A lot of fish keepers do it, they go compulsive tank syndrome where you end up with loads of fish tanks in the house. We see quite a lot. Ours were all in the front room, believe it or not.
“People go through stages of being fish keepers, there’s a lot of customers I know in Leeds who basically have a pond in their front room. They’ve dug a whole in the floor, there’s all types of stuff like that. It’s absolutely mental.”
Andy is throwing an event called Aquafest 2022 to drum up more interest in the hobby. It will be taking place at the shop on Saturday, August 20 from 9am until 3pm.
Visitors will be able feast their eyes on a range of exotic and venomous sea creatures, speak to industry experts and even network. Andy adds there will be deals and offers available.
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